As a company committed to being a resource the industries we serve, it is in our nature to answer questions about products, processes and technologies. But, we recognize that we work with the brightest, most creative people, throughout the world, and sometimes the person on the other end of the phone is more qualified to answer the question than we are! While we work hard to grow our industry and product knowledge, we often find that we are Jacks of all trades and masters of none. And to be honest, we’re ok with that.
Between our diverse customer base – researchers in the medical, aerospace, analytical sciences, and chemical sciences fields – and our range of materials – from PTFE to stainless steel and nitinol – there is a limit to our knowledge.
Recently I had a customer who purchased our blunt needles and was testing a consistent engagement of the male Luer on the syringe and female Luer to ensure the product met a standard they kept. This test is conducted by a five Newton weight to answer the question: “What is the allowable tolerance on the weight?” Unfortunately, we couldn’t answer this question for two reasons. First, we do not supply the weights for testing, so we don’t have any information about them. Second, because our needles have various applications – dispensing epoxy in a manufacturing assembly line, dispensing chemicals in pharmaceuticals or collecting samples for analytical science experiments – it is hard to know every standard out there. It’s not that we don’t have a desire to. There is just simply more knowledge out there than we have acquired, even after decades of working with these products and in these industries.
So, please ask us questions. If we don’t know the answer, we will let you know or we will try and find it. Also, if we don’t know the answer and you find it somewhere else, please take the time the share it with us. Admittedly, the question about the acceptable tolerance on the five Newton weight has only been asked once in the 20 years I’ve been doing this. But, if that time has taught me anything, it’s that if one person is asking about it, someday, someone else will. And next time, we’ve like to have the answer.